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Resources to reduce dropouts, interim superintendent contract on Knox County school board agenda

The school board will have a work session at 5 p.m. Monday in the Andrew Johnson building where it will discuss items on the Wednesday agenda including as this proposal and an interim superintendent contract.

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Resources to reduce dropouts, interim superintendent contract on Knox County school board agenda

A proposal before the Knox County school board would close the district's adult high school and shift resources from adult education to the Dr. Paul Kelley Volunteer Academy, which aims to reduce the county's high-school dropout rate.

Superintendent Jim McIntyre told the school board in April that he didn't plan to apply for a state grant for the district to offer adult education in the 2016-17 school year.

He said the state was making changes that would decrease the number of providers and increase the service areas. McIntyre said there seemed to be a shift in thinking at the state level that adult education should go from being handled by the school districts to Tennessee colleges of applied technology.

So the proposal from the district's Office of Innovation would allow the academy to increase by 20 students and have a full-time social worker.

The school board will discuss the proposal at its 5 p.m. Wednesday regular meeting in the main assembly room of the city-county building. The board will also hold a work session at 5 p.m. Monday in the Andrew Johnson Building, where members will discuss the Wednesday meeting agenda, including the reallocation proposal and an interim superintendent contract.

According to the proposal, the district's adult education program would end in Knox County as of July 1.

The change comes after declining enrollment at the school, as well a declining completion rate, according to the proposal.

In April, McIntyre said if Knox County Schools applied to continue providing adult education, it would mean serving 15 counties in addition to Knox. That would be difficult for the district to do, he said.

Over the past five years, the number of diplomas awarded to Knox County adult students in a given year ranged from 45 in 2012 to 17 in 2015. This year's anticipated completion total is 16.

Meanwhile, the academy, which allows students to recover credits and set the pace of their lessons, has steady graduation numbers. The academy opened in late 2010, and records show about 160 diplomas were awarded each year for the past three academic years.

Moving the funds from the closing adult school would allow the academy to continue to boost the district's graduation numbers, according to the proposal.

Also on the board's agenda:

The board is expected to take action on an interim superintendent contract. Buzz Thomas, president of the Great Schools Partnership, was approved for the role in April and will start in July for the open-ended role.

The Knox County purchasing division is expected to present designs for Gibbs and Hardin Valley middle schools, which are expected to open in 2018.

The schools are the result of a memorandum of understanding between county government and the school board and have prompted an investigation by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights into claims by the local NAACP chapter of racial disparities in building schools.

The board is expected to vote on whether to approve an agreement with county government that would allow Knox County to provide workers' compensation for school employees for a three-year term starting July 1, with annual payments of $1.59 million during that time.

The board previously approved that move as part of the school system budget. McIntyre used the savings of roughly $210,000 to increase raises from 2 to 2.5 percent for 'classified staff,' which includes secretaries, security officers and maintenance and food service workers.

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